Discussion (95) ¬

Tried to save his political career, yeah, his dignity, not so much. I admire gnome guy. I’m sure he knows he’s expected to bend over and take it up the bum, but he’s not resigned to doing it quietly. Wonder if elf guy is respected by his people or reviled but considered a necessity?

The gnome has the moral and ethical high ground in this discussion, but as we all know from real world politics, that does not translate into being taken seriously or seeing justice served. Luckily this is a fantasy world and there are adventurers to help even the odds.

Well, the Gnome could ask: “Remind me again… exactly how many allies does Gastonia have left? And how many allies would it like to have tomorrow morning?”

Because, quite frankly, if the Gnomes were to decide to betray their principles in order to make war machines, they might as well make them for the winning side, and the “Savage Races” outnumber Gastonia ten to one.

That would still mean using science to destroy rather than build, which would be a sacrifice of his moral values as well as loss of gnome life. Because the “Savage Races” might out number Gastonia, but that doesn’t mean that all the human Gastonians couldn’t take that same stance and just kill all the gnomes. I mean if they can’t have hammer tanks, why should they let the savages have them? They have the scientists who built them in custody, they have all the cards.

Honestly? It’ll probably come up on both sides. The gnome may try to assassinate the gnome scientists, or possibly get the adventurers to kidnap them again in secret so they can be tried in Gnometown’s underworld. And the humans will probably consider assassinating the gnome to make him go away.

This plotline includes a psychotic preteen destroying a city (and presumably killing hundreds, if not thousands of gnomes), and significant institutional racism. A couple assassinations will hardly show up on the chart.

Not that dark? Did you miss the scene were the savage races were burning and pillaging that one town, blood of innocents all over the place, gnolls chasing a naked woman down to presumably do ghastly things to her?

I don’t think it works to try and assassinate the head gnome guy. Remember, Gastonia actually needs Gnometown. And there’s a serious limit to how well you can force someone to build weapons for you. See: Iron Man.

Let’s alienate the race who appears to have the capacity to create deadly super weapons which can destroy half a town in a single night.

What next? Will we slather ourselves in honey and dance in front of a bear? Will we bet the gods you bet they *can’t* kill all your people in a single day? Will you decide to moon the enemy, call their mothers whores, talk about how their families are steeped in incest, and top it off by defecating on their daughters? (The Gastonian Steamer don’chaknow)

How the royal balls did humans ever become a top tier race in this world?

Think that was explained a while back in that really chilling Gastonian children’s book about the races, but I don’t recall all of it. Don’t we just outbreed everybody? If the gnomes do refrain from using technology as a weapon, that’d be part of it to.

… Okay, this is RIDICULOUS. Politicians can be douchebags but at least one other human would be backing him. Even if not, they should, from a tactical viewpoint, try to placate him somehow. (“We’ll let you try one.” or “We’ll turn them over to your custody after the war ends.”)

I mean, yeah, the boy’s going to get a pass, but you have to give the gnomes SOMETHING. After all, you don’t want them to be tempted to betray you. Even if you think you could crush them easily, they’re still too valuable of an asset to lose. Come on, Gastonia, if you’re going to be douchebags, be LOGICAL douchebags, at least.

The thing is, there’s no real chance of that happening because of who Harki is. Harki’s not really the negotiating type, and his goals are basically genocidal, so it’s hard to see him reaching a separate accommodation with the gnomes.

The dwarves were already long an outsider society, as were the goblins–they were never allied with Gastonia. Furthermore, Harki hates them both (but thinks they are necessary). The gnomes are in pretty deep with Gastonia. Remember, Gnometown is literally INSIDE of Gastonia.

I find it hard to believe that every human on this council is a complete racist scumbag. I mean, all of them are either looking smugly superior, bored that he didn’t just be the yes man, or actively avoiding eye contact. There has to be one guy who gives an actual crap about lives and justice besides the minorities. Right?

I believe the writers are avid observers of human nature…so, no. At least, not among that lot in the room. You’d most likely find that one guy out somewhere, where justice and living matters more than greed and power.

Unless I miss my guess, I’d say Pornstache would whole-heartedly agree with the idea that the Gnomic Duo are too important to the war effort to waste…but I also think he has his own “magic book” that he makes notes in – about whom did what and what kind of end they deserve.

Sure, there could be one or more of the humans who are unhappy or not completely sold with how this is being handled. My guess would be that Urist McGreyBeard, who I am guessing is minister for mining and industry (based on his shoulder badge) is a little uneasy. But the problem with humans is we are susceptible to Groupthink. No matter how much we like to imagine that we would object and stand up for the little guy, we are just too concerned about not rocking the boat.
Honestly, in this situation it is understandable that all the humans would want to minimize disharmony in this situation, because they have to focus on the big picture of fighting a war.

Well, the big picture here could be losing them allies in the fight. They just pretty much told the gnomic representitive that it’s his fault for having traitors that are more important to the cause than every loyal citizen of Gnometown. Not to mention the fact that the tech those two traitor gnomes made ended up in enemy hands and almost destroyed a human city. I know I would rock the boat because I do it often, though never to this scale, of course. I’m just saying that these are the most influential men in Gastonia. One of them has to realize that there are penalties for ignoring lives lost in an allied force, short or tall.

You know.even if i weren’T sure in the beginning of that whole conflict now i just know that the Peacekeeper WILL betray Gastonia at some point.
I#m not saying that the group will switch over to Harky( even thought that would be a cool plot twist) i’m just guessing that they will do there own thing.Something that will piss off Harky AND GAstonia.and make them enemy to both.

Thing is, as bad as all this is, they’re still more civilized than the Savage Races. They have cities, places of learning, etc. All we’ve seen from the Savage Races are war bands, tribal areas, and… Well.

The leadership may be shit, the people may be racist pricks, but they’re better than the alternative.

What we’ve seen of the non-warfaring bit of the Savage Races is a single panel where a family is being brought food. Though I’ll admit, I think they’re being brought human body parts to eat.

Still, what little we “know” about the Savage Races is that the war-campaigners are burning cities to the ground, whilst drinking wine in sumptuous movable tents.

We don’t know just how their “average” citizen is really treated. Now, I’m not saying that the average kobold village is a place of quaint charm. I’m just saying we haven’t been given solid knowledge. And with the way our lovable writers like to turn fantasy assumptions on their ears…

However I agree that this is something that would make me furious if it weren’t in fiction. And yes, the Congress has done something very much like this. Many, many times, to its own people and to the people of other nations.

I understand what they do with the traitorous scientists. They are a bit too useful to throw away. A full pardon would be ridiculous, but I would agree with letting them build things while wearing a ball and chain on their leg.

His negotiating position is weak. The professors who built the hammer tank are the only ones Gastonia really needs, so he can’t offer the Gastonians anything they would consider worth the loss of the professors.

Well obviously he’s not going to get anything from the professors. But by making it a “compromise” to demand the kid get in trouble, simply making a fuss might be enough to get them to punish the kid for the the sake of moving things along.

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